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Boss2553

Import comment file

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I am new to AB, I am a Toyopuc/PCWin user. I was wondering if there is a way to import the comments from a file to the ladder pulled from the PLC. The place that I am at now has no comments for their machines or prints. I have only the real world I/O so far. I am using rslogicx 500. Can you store the comments to the PLC? Also can you do a block compare that is the function i am used to. Have one program and look at a eariler copy to compare if any difference in program. thank you

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1. Comments are not stored in the PLC. If you don't have them anywhere on your PC or on some backup then you will have to recreate them. 2. In the RSLogix500 menu under 'Tools' there is 'Compare'.

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thanks, the compare worked, it will take me some time to learn this system

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One of the best tools you can use to restore comments to a SLC program is MSExcel. In RSLogix500 (with a file open), click on the Tools menu button then go to Database > ASCII Export. That will bring you to a dialog with lots of choices about how to export the existing comments and symbols from your SLC program. If you choose the CSV tab of that dialog box, and export the Addr/Symbol Descriptions to a comma separated variable file, you can open it in excel, do all sorts of editing, add items, or whatever else you need to do and save it as a .csv file type. Then you can import it back into RSLogix500 and have all those comments back. Editing in Excel or OpenOfficeCalc is much easier than within the database editors in RSLogix. You can do mass copying, auto numbering, use formulas and more. When you import back into RSLogix500, you get choices for whether to overwrite or ignore descriptions that already exist in the SLC code. Also, note that there are multiple types of documentation for an RSLogix program. Each address may have a symbol, address description, and instruction descriptions. A symbol is a unique identifer for the address that may be used when entering code as a substitue name for the address. You can assign a symbol name "PE1" to address I:13.6/11, for example, and type PE1 instead of that long address when writing your logic to save time. You can also change your ladder display to show or hide addresses, symbols, and descriptions, which can be convenient at times. Each symbol must be unique (you can't use the same symbol for more than one address). There are a few simple rules for syntax for symbols, but basically, it must start with a letter, and can't contain special characters except for the underscore. An address comment is a rather lengthy text object that appears above the instructions in which that address is the main operand. It can contain lots of text (up to five lines of 20 characters), and RSLogix doesn't care what you put in the text fields. An instruction comment is a more specific type of address comment. So, B3/0, for example, may have an address comment "Machine Mode", which will appear wherever the bit address appears in ladder logic. It may also have an instruction comments for the various bit instructions that can be applied to it. Lets say you set the OTE instruction comment to "Machine AUTO Enable". That text will appear on the OTE instruction for that bit. So the OTE B3/0 will only show the instruction comment for that address, and not the address comment. If you delete the instruction comment, the address comment will be displayed. It could also have a unique instruction comment for XIC, XIO, OTL etc. Personally, I prefer to only use the address comments and remove any instruction comments. Reading the ladder logic instructions along with the address comments is plenty of information, and having two different comments appear for the same address can be confusing to the reader. When you export the database to a CSV file, you will get five columns for the description, one for each line as it appears in RSLogix. Also, when viewing ladder logic, you can right click on the background (then click Properties...) to change the way that comments addresses, and symbols are displayed. You can decide how many lines of the comments to show, whether to show symbols, and more. This can be useful for getting lots of logic to show up on screen for troubleshooting with enough documentation to still make reading it easy. Hope this helps with your transition to A/B! Paul

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http://forums.mrplc.com/index.php?act=Atta...ost&id=5083 is an excel spreadsheet that I have uploaded here that you can use. The spreadsheet contains column headings for creating a comment and symbol import file. Excel will autofill Allen Bradley addresses. In the address column enter I:1/0 in a cell, in the next cell down enter I:1/1, then highlight the two cells, grab the corner, and drag down. Excel will auto fill the rest and increment each address bit, I:1/2, I:1/3, etc. After you get the addresses entered enter the optional symbol name under the symbol column, and then up to five lines of descriptions. In my spreadsheet each cell is formatted to turn yellow if the description is too long, so if you get a yellow cell then shorten it. I usually leave scope 0 and don't fill in the rest of the field past the last comment line unless I really need them which is rare. After you get everything filled in, delete the top column and save as a CSV file. Then import the CSV file into your RSLogix500 ladder file.

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Is there a trick like this for mitsubishi or siemens also? Thanks.

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i posted one for Mitsubishi http://forums.mrplc.com/index.php?showtopic=15277 if this is going to be of interest to more people, maybe i should put it downlaod section...

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Thanks panic.

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